The Guardian view on the US, Russia and the international criminal court: Trump’s assault on th…

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The Guardian view on the US, Russia and the international criminal court: Trump’s assault on the rule of law intensifies

A fuel deal with Vladimir Putin, and sanctions against the legal institution, ram home the president’s belief that might is right

On Friday, Donald Trump drove home his belief that might is right and the rule of law is an obstacle rather than an essential foundation stone of international order. First came the escalated assault on the international criminal court (ICC), sanctioning the body itself. Then he announced a deal with Russia to buy diesel.

The US has long chafed at the notion of being bound by the rule of law that it espoused publicly. That hypocrisy now appears as a lesser vice. The president has declared that “my own morality” is all that constrains him. His brazen flouting of the law, embrace of dictators and rhetorical attacks all undermine global standards.

How the ICC can be saved

Hoping for ‘dialogue’ with the US over its sanctions on the ICC is meaningless. Action is needed to protect the court.

The sanctions the United States has imposed on the International Criminal Court threaten to degrade its capacity to function, leaving it to die a slow institutional death. Its continued operation as an international organisation, let alone a court of law, would become impossible.

The international community has responded with weak statements of condemnation. States Parties have had more than 20 months since US President Donald Trump came to power to prepare for this move. Efforts should have been made to strengthen the court’s institutional resilience.

As Navi Pillay wins Nobel Peace Prize, US takes unprecedented action to cripple the court she served on

When South African jurist Navi Pillay won this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, she happened to be at a conference at the Nuremberg Court in Germany, where the landmark trial of Nazi leaders almost 80 years ago laid the foundations for modern international law.

As her colleagues in the human rights community applauded and congratulated the former International Criminal Court (ICC) judge on her win, her first reaction was simply: “Is it true? I thought it must be a joke.”

“If you clap a little bit more, I may share this prize with (US President Donald) Trump,” she quipped, a reference to how last year’s winner gave her medal to the US president, before adding “it’s very appropriate that I’m with friends, colleagues, all of whom support human rights.”

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